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LOS ANGELES—Glen Sather sat there, a little askew. He smiled airily, and that was nothing new; it’s that same satisfied grin, a little goofy, propped up. He didn’t have a cigar in his mouth, which seemed unusual. He was talking to the media, which was more unusual still.

“It’s really complicated,” said Sather, back before his New York Rangers opened the Stanley Cup final against the Los Angeles Kings. “Today it took us about three hours to figure out which golf course we were going to play on this afternoon, then later on this evening we have the question about dinner, what are you going to watch on TV tonight? Is Game of Thrones on? It’s tough.”

He laughed, and the media laughed, and it was extraordinary if only because Glen Sather has largely vanished from the public eye since taking over the Rangers in 2000 after all those glorious days in Edmonton. Sather splashed cheques around like a lottery winner, but Jim Dolan’s sports empire has increasingly become a capitalist North Korea, paranoid and hostile to examination. Officials are kept out of the public eye, and need permission from the PR guy to talk even to reporters who they’ve known for decades.

Sather used to be one of the most freewheeling and fascinating characters in hockey, back in Edmonton. He’d be controversial or insightful or funny or offensive, whatever was on the menu. In the old days, one journalist was arrested on the road and used his one phone call to get a hold of Slats, who bailed him out. Edmonton was a big show in a small town, and it was a different time.

Now, Sather is an icon, but a largely silent one. He gets buttonholed at the GM meetings sometimes, and he has a quiet relationship with some in the New York media, though it barely exists. He used to talk to the old Edmonton crew; maybe he still does.

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But he has largely disappeared during the last 15 years, through all those novelty cheque contracts and blatant failures, through John Tortorella’s angry circus and Alain Vigneault’s smooth debut, until this unusually well-constructed team hacked its way through a weak and vulnerable Eastern Conference and found itself playing for the Stanley Cup. Sather hasn’t been here since 1990.

“I’ve been around for a little while, couple years,” said Sather. “I know what it’s like. I know how hard it is to get here. We’re appreciative of the opportunity . . . I don’t think it’s been rocky. Every year there’s only two teams that fight for the Stanley Cup and there’s one that wins. It takes time to get in this position.

“Anyone that’s been in the hockey business knows what it can be like, and it’s complicated. I don’t see any great personal satisfaction. I’m satisfied that the team is here. I think the job is partly done. We know that we’re up against great forwards, great defence and great goaltending, so it’s going to be tough.”

His team lost Game 1 but was better in Game 2, with Alain Vigneault in John Tortorella’s spot behind the bench. It was one of Sather’s better decisions, that.

“It’s like you start trying to train your kids,” said Sather. “They get tired of listening to you after a while. I went through it myself and everything for 10 years. If it was easy, I could fire myself.”

He allowed that he has thought a lot about perhaps buying out Brad Richards, who is an admirable guy on a terrible nine-year, $60-million (U.S.) contract, signed in the classic Sather Rangers way. There were no questions about the stories of him not paying attention at board of governors meetings, or about whether he misses being the show. No, none of that.

And when asked about Dolan, whose ruination of the New York Knicks has become almost legendary, Sather smiled that smile again.

“Well, I had another complicated owner that I worked for for a long time, as well,” he said, and Peter Pocklington’s shadow briefly hovered over this shiny new era. “I enjoy him. I think he’s an interesting, complex, caring human being that is probably a little bit apprehensive at letting himself be known by the media.

“Most people like that are. You have your own private life, your own world that you live in. I get along with him fine. Somebody wrote that I manage him well. Well, I wouldn’t say I’m a particularly good manager. I like to be friends with the people that I work with. I like to be friends with the coaches, the players. At the same time you have to be respectful. I do respect him. I like him. I get along with him. It’s about that simple.”

Towards the end of the joint press conference with his coach, Vigneault laughed and said, “I really like it when you’re around. I got nothing to do.” And Sather said, “I hope this is it for me.” He hasn’t spoken in public since. A couple days later he was talking to an old friend who asked if Sather had golfed at the Riviera country club, and Sather said, “Are you kidding? That’s $500.” It was a shade of the old Edmonton Slats, the big talker who knew the value of a dollar. That guy disappeared a long time, ago, though.

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